Probe of graft case halted

Multa Fidrus, The Jakarta Post, Tangerang

It has been almost a year since the police questioned Tangerang state electricity company (PLN) former chief Asnawi Sabrawi in a Rp 12 billion corruption case. But the dossier has not yet been completed.

In July last year the police named Asnawi and his corporate secretary Katiyanto as the main suspects in the scandal.

Three other employees of the company, Nurhasan, Indra Budi and Adin Saefudin, were also examined for their part in the graft.

The Tangerang District Court sentenced Katiyanto to six years imprisonment late last month. The three other defendants received three years each.

Katiyanto told the court he transferred Rp 5 million to Asnawi's bank account every month.

"The probe into Asnawi's alleged involvement in the corruption case is being handled by the police, not prosecutors. As of today, we are still waiting for the police to submit Asnawi's dossier," head of special crime cases at the prosecutor's office Ferry Silalahi told The Jakarta Post on Thursday.

Separately, deputy chief of detectives Insp. Kustanto said the police had halted the probe into Asnawi's case due to a lack of evidence during the initial questioning.

He said Asnawi acknowledged that Katiyanto had transferred Rp 55 billion into his bank account, but Asnawi, now employed at PLN's Greater Jakarta distribution office in Gambir, Central Jakarta, claimed he had never drawn the money.

Kusnanto expressed reluctance to continue investigating the case and even suggested that Katiyono might have engineered his testimony to finger Asnawi.

The crimes, which were committed between 1990 and 2000, were revealed when the central PLN office carried out an operation against rampant power theft by private companies and individual consumers last year.

Asnawi and Katiyanto had allegedly forged electricity bills for 18 companies in the Tangerang area. Those companies, which were not registered as PLN consumers, were requested to pay their bills to Katiyanto every month.